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Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning changes to 24 streets around the city in hopes of improving the city's abysmal bus service.

As part of his lofty bus plan unveiled earlier this year, the mayor outlined details Thursday to redesign two dozen corridors, rolling out features like new bus lanes and altering traffic lights to communicate with moving buses over the course of 2019. The ultimate goal is to improve bus speeds by 25% over the year.

“All of this is about helping people get around. All of this is about improving quality of life; all of this is about reducing the stress and helping people get where they need to go on time so they can really experience all the good in this city,” said De Blasio at a news conference at the 92nd Street Y. “This is something New Yorkers deserve. We want this to be the fairest big city in America.”

MTA bus service is the slowest in the nation and averages about 7.5 mph citywide, the city comptroller found. The service has been shedding ridership every year since 2014, but it still serves almost two million commuters a day — primarily riders with lower-incomes and typically people of color.

De Blasio was hopeful that the recent passage of a congestion pricing blueprint at the state level can help him achieve his bus improvements, as well as several other transit upgrades under the city’s control.

The plan includes changes for buses running on major Manhattan avenues, like stretches of Lexington and Madison; Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens and Broadway in the Bronx.

“It’s going to open up a whole series of positive options for us going forward,” said de Blasio on congestion pricing, which he called “a victory for all New Yorkers.”

Two of those options: more pedestrian space and less disruptive truck deliveries, according to de Blasio. The mayor also announced plans to pilot a new pedestrianized zone in lower Manhattan this year as well a goal to triple the number of businesses involved in the city’s overnight and off-hour delivery program, from 500 to 1,500.

“It’s time to take another step to experiment with pedestrian priority zones — areas that are devoted just to pedestrians — so that we can give people an easier time walking around,” de Blasio said. “We are probably the number one walking city in America.”

While the state controls the MTA, which operates bus service, the city manages the streets on which those buses run. Much of de Blasio’s bus strategy revolves around painting new bus lanes, giving buses priority as they approach traffic lights at 300 intersections and redesigning intersections in an attempt to keep buses from getting snagged in traffic.

The mayor has also targeted enforcement to keep drivers from blocking bus lanes. The city has towed 432 vehicles as part of the strategy since it was announced at his State of the City address in January.

Community opposition to the loss of driving lanes or parking has helped weaken bus improvements over the years. De Blasio said there would be room for residents’ input, but that changes are necessary.

“I want to be clear that we must speed up our buses, so one way or another we’re going to get there,” de Blasio said.

Nick Sifuentes, the executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which was part of a larger coalition that pressured the mayor to focus on bus fixes, was supportive of the plan. He said the biggest question mark will be the fate of a proposed bus-only corridor on 14th Street. De Blasio said he was finishing hearing out locals on that project and will have an announcement ready next week.

The key to the mayor’s plan, Sifuentes said, is that it helps makes the improvements easier to advocate for.

“We’ve been kind of beating this drum for a while now — that everyone needs to de-parochialize these fights and look at bus improvements as a citywide fight,” he said. “That’s an incredibly important technical and rhetorical thing they’re doing.”

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Plan or no plan, nothing is going to improve until our political lightweight of a mayor stand up to the NYPD and gets them to stop parking in the bus lanes... they want carveouts but continue to park in the bus lanes and insist they are above the law... they only care about themselves now.

I hope you mean Avenue C and not D.....D would mean that the bus lane would go through the Con Ed plant!

However, the bus lane through Avenue A to C..... I have mixed feelings about that one. Traffic surely isn't an issue between Avenue A and D, it's between Avenue A and 9th Avenue where the issues arise.

What I'm disappointed with is that they're not doing much to curb the continuing issues along Jamaica Avenue, one of the more busier areas of bus traffic.

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I hope you mean Avenue C and not D.....D would mean that the bus lane would go through the Con Ed plant!

However, the bus lane through Avenue A to C..... I have mixed feelings about that one. Traffic surely isn't an issue between Avenue A and D, it's between Avenue A and 9th Avenue where the issues arise.

What I'm disappointed with is that they're not doing much to curb the continuing issues along Jamaica Avenue, one of the more busier areas of bus traffic.

I didn't say between Avenue A and D, I said in addition to Avenue A and D because it is unclear what the setup of lanes would be (busway or likelier–unfortunately offset).

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In the outer boroughs, more one-way streets should be considered as well. Examples:

Queens: Make Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue a one-way pair between Sutphin Boulevard and 168 Street (Brewer for Archer). 139 Street would become a one-way southbound street between Jamaica and Archer. 168 Street and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard would be northbound one-way between Jamaica and Archer. There would be 2 bus lanes, 1 car lane, and 1 truck delivery lane on Jamaica with deliveries allowed before 7 PM and between 10 AM and 3:30 PM, and the following pattern on Archer:

Brooklyn: Make New York Avenue a one-way street on the northern segment the entire way (Avenue H to Fulton Street) with two exceptions:

Foster Avenue to Clarendon Road (access to Flatbush Gardens)

Linden Boulevard to Winthrop Street (to get around Kings County Hospital and SUNY Downstate)

This would help improve speeds on the B44 Local.

Make Kings Highway one-way eastbound between East 16 Street and Ocean Avenue (all traffic) and between East 13 Street and Ocean Parkway (except for B82 buses - arrangement similar to Glenwood Road bus lane, which has worked to reduce B6 and B82 running times by allowing a direct path to Rockaway Parkway ; that eliminated a circuitous loop on the B82 and reduced the B6 path from 8 turns to 4, with the first 2 turns directly being into the station). Deliveries would be encouraged before 10 AM by restricting parking on the southbound side between East 9 and East 13 to trucks only making deliveries.

A rumination: what about making Glenwood and Avenue H a one-way pair between Flatbush and Albany? Glenwood would be one-way eastbound and Avenue H one-way westbound. Anyone who rides the B6 or B103 knows that there can be a jam between New York and Flatbush, with that as a choke-point. With that, a left turn that lasts the entire red light at Flatbush and Glenwood would be possible. (Under this, the B11 would have its first stop to Sunset Park relocated to the B41 stop on that block.) Being one way would permit 2 through lanes of traffic; speed humps would be installed at various points to prevent speeding as well as a speed camera at Glenwood Road before Brooklyn Avenue (enforcing a school zone for St. Vincent Ferrer's school). On Avenue H, having 2 lanes would eliminate the traffic jam where New York Avenue dumps traffic onto Avenue H by having 2 through lanes instead of 1.

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Awkward turn from Kissena Boulevard aside, what would be worth serving on this route?

The turn isn't awkward if you completely close Kissena between Barclay and Main. The point is to get buses in and out of Flushing faster. They're also building a massive mall/apartments/mixed-use complex where the old parking garage on Union St was. As a side effect, Flushing gains some plaza space, because there isn't a single public space to sit in the entire area other than the steps of the library.

Anecdotally speaking, on northbound buses a lot of people walk from Sanford and Kissena because the slog into Main St is so slow; on your average Q27 you'll have approximately six people remaining on the bus. That's a 1100 ft walk from the subway stop. Union St is 535 ft from the northern entrance of Flushing-Main St.

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The turn isn't awkward if you completely close Kissena between Barclay and Main. The point is to get buses in and out of Flushing faster. They're also building a massive mall/apartments/mixed-use complex where the old parking garage on Union St was. As a side effect, Flushing gains some plaza space, because there isn't a single public space to sit in the entire area other than the steps of the library.

Anecdotally speaking, on northbound buses a lot of people walk from Sanford and Kissena because the slog into Main St is so slow; on your average Q27 you'll have approximately six people remaining on the bus. That's a 1100 ft walk from the subway stop. Union St is 535 ft from the northern entrance of Flushing-Main St.

If the point is to get buses in and out of Flushing faster, the solution is to increase bus priority, not divert buses.

Since you decided to bring up passenger patterns, I'd really like to know about the other buses using Kissena Boulevard to access Flushing.

I didn't even realize this until I looked at Google Maps, but you're talking about going from Kissena Boulevard to Barclay Avenue, then to Union Street. Unless your plan is to turn that entire bit (from at least Roosevelt Avenue) into a busway, forget it. With a high bus volume involving five routes currently using Kissena Boulevard to reach Main Street (three of which continue beyond to reach College Point and Whitestone), that can only end poorly (and considering that we're talking about that many on a less capable route, probably will). Note that I didn't mention the route from Nassau, which uses Kissena Boulevard to reach Sanford Avenue. Also note that I didn't even bother focusing on the route for the Q25 and Q34.

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If the point is to get buses in and out of Flushing faster, the solution is to increase bus priority, not divert buses.

Since you decided to bring up passenger patterns, I'd really like to know about the other buses using Kissena Boulevard to access Flushing.

I didn't even realize this until I looked at Google Maps, but you're talking about going from Kissena Boulevard to Barclay Avenue, then to Union Street. Unless your plan is to turn that entire bit (from at least Roosevelt Avenue) into a busway, forget it. With a high bus volume involving five routes currently using Kissena Boulevard to reach Main Street (three of which continue beyond to reach College Point and Whitestone), that can only end poorly (and considering that we're talking about that many on a less capable route, probably will). Note that I didn't mention the route from Nassau, which uses Kissena Boulevard to reach Sanford Avenue. Also note that I didn't even bother focusing on the route for the Q25 and Q34.

Q17/27 - ends at former Union St muni garage.

Q65 - early left onto Union from Sanford, use either Northern (today's route) or 35th to reach College Point Blvd. This actually reduces the amount of turns on the route.

Q25/34 - Union > 35th > Linden.

None of this is particularly challenging. In fact, Main St might be a more challenging routing, given that it just dead-ends at Northern; if you're willing to put buses on 35th, making a left turn at a less congested crossing is easier.

Main St and Barclay are both 54 feet wide curb to curb, as is Union St at Roosevelt Av. Union St narrows south of Roosevelt Av, but is no narrower than Kissena, which also has two moving lanes and two parking lanes. The streets are just configured differently today, but that doesn't preclude changing the street lane layout. And there are left turns - so what? There are left turns today, at Northern and at Main/Kissena.

There is no way of increasing bus priority on Main St short of actually closing Main St to cars, which is far more radical and also probably not feasible given the fact that the next north-south through road from the LIE to Northern is 1.5 miles east at 162nd.

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They pretty much end there as it is, but on a more logical (and accommodating) route.

2 hours ago, bobtehpanda said:

Q65 - early left onto Union from Sanford, use either Northern (today's route) or 35th to reach College Point Blvd. This actually reduces the amount of turns on the route.

Cue the width being a greater issue than at the next street north, not to mention that not everyone is trying to reach the .

3 hours ago, bobtehpanda said:

Q25/34 - Union > 35th > Linden.

Oh, okay, so Linden Place is magically wider than Union Street in order to handle the turn without conflict. Good to know.

3 hours ago, bobtehpanda said:

Union St narrows south of Roosevelt Av, but is no narrower than Kissena, which also has two moving lanes and two parking lanes.

Perhaps it would be better to take a good look at Union Street and Kissena Boulevard before making that conclusion.

3 hours ago, bobtehpanda said:

There is no way of increasing bus priority on Main St short of actually closing Main St to cars, which is far more radical and also probably not feasible given the fact that the next north-south through road from the LIE to Northern is 1.5 miles east at 162nd.

Then close Main Street to cars while allowing buses and trucks to use it. Not only are cars better suited for those smaller spaces, but they literally do not need to enter Flushing from Northern Boulevard, especially since they're not large vehicles on fixed routes.

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In the outer boroughs, more one-way streets should be considered as well. Examples:

Queens: Make Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue a one-way pair between Sutphin Boulevard and 168 Street (Brewer for Archer). 139 Street would become a one-way southbound street between Jamaica and Archer. 168 Street and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard would be northbound one-way between Jamaica and Archer. There would be 2 bus lanes, 1 car lane, and 1 truck delivery lane on Jamaica with deliveries allowed before 7 PM and between 10 AM and 3:30 PM, and the following pattern on Archer:

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Um...that happened back in 1990-1991 and look how that turned out. In 1991, two-way streets yet again!

The Queens borough president at the time opposed it. But she's long gone! This would relieve traffic congestion at areas like Sutphin Boulevard, where I would even say that one crosswalk (on the south side) should be permanently fenced off.

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Queens: Make Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue a one-way pair between Sutphin Boulevard and 168 Street (Brewer for Archer). 139 Street would become a one-way southbound street between Jamaica and Archer. 168 Street and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard would be northbound one-way between Jamaica and Archer. There would be 2 bus lanes, 1 car lane, and 1 truck delivery lane on Jamaica with deliveries allowed before 7 PM and between 10 AM and 3:30 PM, and the following pattern on Archer:

This is nuts. Supthin is already overcrowded with traffic, and this would force more traffic onto Supthin to get on the correct one-way road.

48 minutes ago, aemoreira81 said:

The Queens borough president at the time opposed it. But she's long gone! This would relieve traffic congestion at areas like Sutphin Boulevard, where I would even say that one crosswalk (on the south side) should be permanently fenced off.

This is also nuts. In practice, closing off sidewalks doesn't work all that well, it just mostly endangers pedestrians.

The only one-way pair I would seriously consider would be a couplet of 45th Av and 46th Av/Holly Av. The Q65 and Q27 run a block away from each other, Holly isn't wide enough for two-way operation, and the Q27 turn onto Holly is so sketchy.

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Queens: Make Jamaica Avenue and Archer Avenue a one-way pair between Sutphin Boulevard and 168 Street (Brewer for Archer).

DOT did that (partially) in the early 1990s at the behest of Senator D'Amato and the Jamaica Avenue merchants who were upset about buses being rerouted to Archer/Parsons. It was an unmitigated disaster that unnecessarily slowed down every bus that used Jamaica or Archer. (One result was creation of the Q4/Q5/Q85 Limiteds that used Liberty Avenue to bypass the one-way pair. Limiteds still use Liberty 25 years after the "experiment" ended.)

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As I said in the Brooklyn idea thread, wanting to one-way everything is conveying a complete disregard for other motorists.... On top of it, it wouldn't achieve the desired result of improving bus speeds at all.

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Make Kings Highway one-way eastbound between East 16 Street and Ocean Avenue (all traffic) and between East 13 Street and Ocean Parkway (except for B82 buses - arrangement similar to Glenwood Road bus lane, which has worked to reduce B6 and B82 running times by allowing a direct path to Rockaway Parkway ; that eliminated a circuitous loop on the B82 and reduced the B6 path from 8 turns to 4, with the first 2 turns directly being into the station). Deliveries would be encouraged before 10 AM by restricting parking on the southbound side between East 9 and East 13 to trucks only making deliveries.

I will only address this one point of yours. Do you gave any idea the chaos your plan would cause? Do you know how much traffic there currently is on Avenue P between Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Avenue between 4 and 7 PM? It is virtually at a standstill, even worse than Kings Highway. I assume the same is true in the morning rush hour. Is this where you propose the diverted westbound traffic go? There is no room so it will have to go to Avenues R and S which means even more north south traffic on the avenues.

And the reason why traffic on Avenue P and other crosstown avenues is so bad during the rush hour is the trade off given so north south signals can be synchronized on the north south avenues. It is only 30 seconds green to 90 seconds red to go east west during rush hours. The north south synchronization is necessary because unlike all other boroughs Brooklyn has no north south expressways or streets with greater than a 25 mph speed limit and next year anyone going only 30 mph will receive a $50 summons, so you can bet traffic will only get worse as cars go even slower than today.

Thete are definitely was to improve traffic but your proposal is not one of them.

As I said in the Brooklyn idea thread, wanting to one-way everything is conveying a complete disregard for other motorists.... On top of it, it wouldn't achieve the desired result of improving bus speeds at all.

Induced demand.

One way roads are only really useful in places where the road is legitimately to narrow for two buses (or trucks) to pass by. Queens has a lot of roads like that, and the ones with buses on them should probably be made one-way.

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One way roads are only really useful in places where the road is legitimately to narrow for two buses (or trucks) to pass by. Queens has a lot of roads like that, and the ones with buses on them should probably be made one-way.

The Q27 loses so much time on the Holly segment.

I'm not against one-way roads in general & in no way implicating that everything should be 2-way, but what AE Moreira is on here suggesting is much too ambitious & that's putting it cordially....

Wanting to one-way some of those roads just S/E of Downtown Flushing is one thing, wanting to one way a decent chunk of the roads in the heart of Jamaica is quite another.....

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One way roads are only really useful in places where the road is legitimately to narrow for two buses (or trucks) to pass by. Queens has a lot of roads like that, and the ones with buses on them should probably be made one-way.

I don’t know why but Penelope Avenue was the first Street that came into mind when I read this. Would that, along with 64th Road be feasible for one way streets or would that be a waste of money?